The demand for social networking on the internet has resulted in an exponentially expanding number of social internet websites, applications, and other social network media. Internet websites such as FACEBOOK®, TWITTER®, and MYSPACE® have experienced rapid expansion as users attempt to post and share much of their lives and experiences online. In addition, online commerce shopping sites such as Amazon and EBay are now dominant entities in the field of online and mainstream commerce.
While the explosion of social media has allowed people to be connected on the internet more than ever before, browsing the internet has remained a largely solitary experience. Users of social media websites or applications communicate by taking turns, posting information rather than communicating with one another in real time. While real time internet communication methods such as internet telephone, video conferencing and chat rooms do exist, usage of these methodologies is limited by the applications or platforms that support them. For instance, chat software allows users to send messages back and forth, but users are typically limited to this simple exchange within the confines of that technology.
There exists a wealth of internet experiences that cannot be easily and effectively shared, viewed, or fully interacted with in real time by all of the parties who are or would like to share that content. Activities such as viewing pictures, watching video, or engaging in internet shopping cannot currently be experienced in a simple, real time, and fully interactive method that enables two or more users who are connected on separate devices to all interact with and discuss that content simultaneously without having to take turns passing controls. In addition, there is no modality that enables all of the two or more users engaged in a synchronized or shared browsing session to (1) click on web links which open in new non-shared tabs, (2) log into and register at certain web sites separately, and/or (3) input form data or other information at the site or application in a simultaneous or nearly simultaneous manner. As such, the current art lacks technology that would simultaneously connect two or more users in a medium that would allow all of them to both interact with one another and with the content itself in real time and in a synchronized or shared fashion.
Despite the obvious demand for socialization on the internet and despite the desire of many users to utilize the web to view online content with others in real-time, there is no effective, fully interactive modality that enables a group of users to view and interact with internet content and media simultaneously with others on different computers or other connected devices with all of those users empowered to interact with that content in real-time on a simultaneous basis. Furthermore, there is no such modality that allows all users in a shared session to simultaneously log in or register into a certain web site, application, or experience with either or all of (1) their own credentials; (2) credentials passed to them by the host; (3) or with no log in credentials whatsoever. While some current methods such as “desktop or screen sharing” allow users to simply view the same internet content, these methods do not enable all users in a session to click, input, and log into those experiences in a simultaneous or nearly simultaneous manner. Furthermore, these methods are also less appealing because they work by broadcasting continuous screenshots of the host screen in large files or packets and require high levels of bandwidth and computer processing power. As a result of their high bandwidth and processing power requirements, current methods such as desktop sharing are inadequate for enabling larger groups to all view and fully interact with that interactive content in a simultaneous manner. Finally, current methods such as “desktop or screen sharing” afford little protection for the broadcasting host's private information since all participants in a particular session see the host screen as s/he enters sensitive information such as user names or passwords or when the host toggles back and forth in other areas on their desktop.
There is a need in the art for an internet enabled collaboration, online commerce, and social networking innovation that facilitates real time sharing of a more complete internet experience. Specifically, there is a need for a device that allows all users in a session to interact with, discuss, log in separately or together, and share internet browsing in real time for online activities such as shopping together, booking travel together, watching or listening to media together, and browsing the internet together in a simultaneous fashion from different devices and/or locations. It is to these ends that the present invention has been developed.